Ambulatory infusion pumps are useful for providing a variety of drug therapies. Ambulatory pumps can be particularly beneficial for therapies which must be delivered over an extended period of time.
One such therapy is intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). IVIG is used primarily to treat immune deficiencies, inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, and acute infections. Patients receiving IVIG therapies typically need to build up a tolerance to the IVIG during delivery, meaning that IVIG is initially administered at a low rate and, as the infusion time progresses, the rate is gradually increased to a steady state or “plateau” rate that is maintained until the prescribed amount of IVIG has been delivered to the patient. IVIG is not the only therapy that utilizes this type of delivery profile.
While some conventional infusion pumps can accommodate such a delivery profile, setting up and programming the profiles on the pumps is complicated and time-consuming. Further, many conventional pumps use spreadsheet-based profiles that cannot be adjusted or customized, either prior to infusion to accommodate the needs of a particular patient or during infusion if a patient is not tolerating the delivered drug and needs to decrease the rate of infusion on demand.